The
victim, a regular customer, was trying to help a woman and child who
were afraid and had been moved away from an angry fellow sushi bar
diner, the stabbing suspect.

The
victim of a June 8, 2013 stabbing outside Sushi on Fire in Belmont
Shore, where Long Beach Police Dept. said he was critically injured.
Credit: Hermosa Beach Fire Dept. medic Carlos Lopez, who told Patch he
aided the victim until LB Fire arrived.

By Nancy WrideJimmy
Lee saw the full episode devolve into a stabbing at the Belmont Shore
Sushi on Fire that he manages. And on Monday he stressed that the victim
is a regular customer and good guy trying to keep out an angry diner
when he was attacked with a pocket knife.

The victim was among
several heroic patrons, cooks and bystanders who tried to prevent the
attack, then responded to the stabbing Saturday night outside the
restaurant, Lee told Patch. And he credited his staff for swiftly
catching that the man's intensity, swearing and knife on the counter
scared a little girl next to him.

"I
want to say thank you to everyone who tried to help," said Lee of
customers - including the victim - his waitresses, sushi chef and cooks
for maneuvering the angry patron outside.

As the victim—identified by friends and Lee as Eric Martinez—recovered Monday afternoon
from multiple knife wounds, Lee and other diners wanted to make clear
that the Saturday night violence was not a bar fight. The restaurant is
popular with families. Martinez, they said, was a good guy trying to
neutralize a bad situation.

"He will probably spend 10 days in
the hospital," Lee said he was told by the brother of Martinez, a
regular customer. "I hope he has insurance."

Lee provided most
of the details for the following narrative. Long Beach police, who
identified the suspect they arrested as Ronald Campbell, 30, of Long
Beach, would not discuss details beyond the basic scenario of a fight, a
man being stabbed and good Samaritans stepping in to detain Campbell.

Shortly
before 6:30 p.m. Saturday night, a woman and her young daughter were
seated at the sushi counter of the restaurant at the corner of Second
Street and Pomona Avenue. One source said the girl was excited about her
first time watching a sushi chef. The glass restaurant was not packed,
but busy with many regular customers, including other children.

A
man swearing loudly and angrily sat beside the mother-daughter pair,
placed a pocket knife on the counter. Lee noticed the man, who
was sitting in the sixth seat, because he had a visible scar on his
scalp, which was shaven; his sushi chef was concerned as the child and
mother appeared afraid of the intense man. The chef tried diverting the
man by engaging him in conversation, without luck.

Lee had a
waitress quietly move the mother and daughter to a table beside the
door—the farthest possible spot—and when the man started cursing, Lee
positioned himself between the woman's new table and the man at the
sushi bar. The man, however, was obviously insulted and angrily slammed
the counter loudly and stomped out of the restaurant. He first sat on a
bench but berated the woman with her daughter through their window
glass.

Once the man was out, Lee called 9-1-1 from the back of
the restaurant. His regular customer, Martinez was seated right
there, grabbed the phone to speak with the dispatcher so Lee could go
secure the front door. But soon the angry man was walking back in to
retrieve his cell phone on the bar.

Martinez was apparently
concerned the man would further frighten the child and followed him back
to the door, where Campbell appeared further provoked but moved
outside. Lee and his bigger staff members, the cooks, and apparently a
patron, tried separating the two men, but the knifing took place fast.
The victim actually fell onto the suspect, Lee said.

Lee's
staffers, as well as an off-duty Hermosa Beach fire medic and
possibly an off-duty police officer swooped in to control the situation;
with bystanders, they were able to hold down the suspect for Long Beach
Police Department to arrive. Sgt. Aaron Eaton, a department spokesman,
said officers responded three minutes after receiving the 911 call.

Hermosa
Beach Fire Department medic Carlos Lopez said that he performed wound
treatment including ice as frantic restaurant staff and witnesses rushed
in and out with linen napkins to help stop Martinez's bleeding.

Lee
said Monday that he was grateful that everyone did the best they could
when usually people step away from such an intense and violent
situation.